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UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL EXAMINATIONS

General Certif icate of Education Ordinary Level

2058 ISLAMIYAT

Due to a security breach we required all candidates in Pakistan who sat the Islamiyatpapers to attend a re-sit examination in June 2013. Candidates outside of Pakistansat only the original papers and were not involved in a re-sit.

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Cambridge General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level2058 Islamiyat June 2013

Principal Examiner Report for Teachers

2013

ISLAMIYAT

Paper 2058/01

Paper 1

This component was set in an increasing number of centres around the world and the standard of entry hasconsiderably improved. Responses ranged from some exceptionally good responses, to satisfactoryattempts to answer the paper. There were very few papers at a basic level. Generally speaking allcandidates answered Questions 1 and 2 and chose two other questions to answer.

There has been a general improvement in the way candidates have addressed the second assessmentobjective, assessed by part (b) questions. This was true for both 1 (b) and the other questions, particularly inthe way candidates related the subject material to modern day issues.

Question 1

(a) Almost all candidates responded to the first passage and responded well. Allahs power and one-ness were the main themes drawn in response. The second passage was briefer and candidateswho answered it also tended to respond briefly. The best responses elaborated on the theme thatAllah is creator and to be worshipped, not the creation. Most candidates who responded to thethird passage wrote about the details of judgement. The best responses also drew out aspects ofthe circumstances of the coming of judgement and the end of time and the signs of this.

(b) Many answers showed that there has been an improvement in the appreciation of the secondassessment objective and the relating of passages to life today. Satisfactory answers commentedabout focusing on Allah for the first passage, not associating Him with partners or idols. Goodanswers went on to explain what that meant in everyday life, trusting in the will of Allah, andsupplicating to Him all the problems of everyday life. For the second passage, the very best

answers picked up on the concept of service, from the last few words of the passage, andexplained what this meant in everyday life. The third passage was generally very well answered,with lots of examples of what thinking about judgement meant in everyday life for a Muslim.

Question 2

(a) The focus of this question was the circumstances of revelation. This question proved challengingfor many candidates. Most did manage to write a satisfactory answer about the generalcircumstances of revelation although few went on to explain these in detail. The best answersexplained the full background of the context of the early revelations and the Prophets insistence inthe one-ness of God in front of the polytheistic Arabs, for Surah 112. For Surah 108 the bestanswers recognised that abtar was a reference to the Prophets lack of a male heir to carryforward his family line, used mockingly by his enemies at the time of revelation of this Surah.

(b) This question was quite well answered. Candidates explained how the Quran was the primarysource of legal thinking as the word of Allah, backed up with examples from the Sunnah, andwhere details were lacking, supplemented with the consensus of scholars (ijma) and analogy(qiyas). The best answers gave one or two examples of how they might be used in practice.

Question 3

(a) This was a popular and well answered question. Good responses gave details about the buildingof the first mosque and referenced events within a time frame from first arrival to the end of the firstyear. Battles such as Badr came after this time period so were not relevant in this answer.

(b) Again, this question was well answered and candidates expanded on the theme of forming goodrelations with others, just as the first Muslims in Medina formed strong ties of brotherhood with theirfellow inhabitants of the city.

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Question 4

(a) The events of the conquest of Makka were generally described well and in detail by candidateswho attempted this question. Good answers began with the breaking of the treaty of Hudaybiyahand narrated the events through, in order, to the destroying of the idols in the Kaba and thepardoning of Wahshi and Hind.

(b) Many candidates drew points about the Prophets forgiveness of his enemies from the conquest,and how Muslims today should be patient when facing difficulties then forgive their enemies whenthey overcome them. Some drew parallels from zones of conflict including Muslims in the modernworld.

Question 5

(a) Candidates responded well provided they read the question carefully and noted that this referred toevents during the lifetime of the Prophet and not afterward so events concerning the compilationof the Quran by Umar were not relevant. It was also important for candidates to refer to bothUmar and Uthman, not just one of them. The best answers traced the life of Umar, hisconversion, his donation of wealth for Tabuk, up to his initial refusal to accept the Prophets death.For Uthman, the best answers mentioned his conversion through Abu Bakr, marriage to the

Prophets daughter Ruqayyah, migration to Abyssinia, ill treatment in Makka, second marriage toKulthum, and went on to discuss his role in negotiations with the Makkans.

(b) Candidates answered this question well, explaining that Umars strength helped Muslims to prayopenly and gave the new community of Muslims a boost in troubled times.

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2013

ISLAMIYAT

Paper 2058/02

Paper 2

General Comments

The overall response to this examination was good. It was found that candidates took the time to read thequestions, understand them and answer them effectively. From the optional questions a large majority optedfor eitherQuestion 3 or4 and it was found that Question 5 was most popular amongst the candidates.

Comments on Specific Questions

Question 1

For this question a large majority of candidates wrote good answers. It was seen that the candidatesexpressed the teachings given in the Hadiths quite clearly, however, at times when answering Part (b) of thequestion i.e. how Muslims can put the teachings of the Hadiths into action they repeated the teachingsespecially when they were attempting the first Hadith. Answers for Parts (a) and (b) for the fourth Hadithalso tended to overlap at times with the result that the division between teachings and actions becameblurred. Candidates need to structure their answers to the Hadith question of the examination in such a waythat they do not write all they know about it in the first part but stick to the requirement of the question i.e.teachings being expressed in Part (a) and actions in Part (b).

Question 2

This was a well attempted question. Candidates very clearly wrote in their answers why Muslims needed to

know about the Prophets Hadiths and they went on to write about how the Hadiths elaborate upon theteachings in the Quran, the examples given to elaborate this point were mainly about salat and zakat.Though some candidates wrote about how the annual pilgrimage, hajj, is performed in the light of theProphets Hadiths and sunna. Few candidates went on to write about how Hadiths have laid down theprinciples of law regarding inheritance, buying, selling etc. or how important the Prophets Hadiths are in thepractice ofijma and qiyas to this day. Those who did discuss these points achieved the higher levels.

The second part of this question dealt with what benefits Muslims hoped to get by following the sunna of theProphet (pbuh). A balance was looked for in the answers given. Again the majority of the answers were wellbalanced.

In Part (b) of this question the response was largely satisfactory. Candidates wrote about how it was fearedthe Hadiths might get lost or corrupted if not recorded but did not discuss points like there was no single

collection of the Prophets Hadiths that could be referred to so the need arose to compile one or that differentcentres arose around each companion where they lived, however candidates were not satisfied with onecentre as that companion may not have known all the Hadiths. It was important not to confuse thecompilation of the Hadiths with details of the compilation of the Quran during Abu Bakrs time.

On the whole this question was well answered by the candidates.

Question 3

Candidates identified the two major battles of Camel and Siffin and wrote with a lot of confidence about thecauses, events and conclusion of these two battles. The battle of Nahrawan was also written about by somecandidates. Some candidates seemed confused about who the Kharijites were and tended to label all whoopposed Ali from the start of the caliphate as Kharijites.

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In Part (b) the candidates wrote about Ali being the right ruler for the time and gave some good reasons tosupport their points. They wrote about his closeness to the Prophet (pbuh) and his good administrationdespite the fact that his period as caliph was riddled with wars.

Question 4

Confident answers were given by the candidates to this question. Candidates quoted from Sura Ikhlas andAyat ul Kursi to build their answer upon. Many went on to describe the three aspects of tawhid. Somenamed each one of them individually and then expanded their answers.

In Part (b) again some good answers were given and evaluation was offered. In a few responses there wasrepetition from Part (a). In these answers candidates again quoted Sura Ikhlas and explained it. What wasbeing looked for in the answer was evaluation and not statements, candidates could have, for example, saidthat shirkis regarded as a great sin because it is the opposite of tawhid.

Question 5

This was the most popular question of the paper. The question asked not for how the two pillars ofsalatandsawm are observed but how they bring Muslims closer to God and other Muslims. The majority of thecandidates answered what was being asked, some went into the observance of sawm and then went on to

answer what was being asked. The higher levels were given to those who specifically answered thequestion. It is important to keep the focus of the question in mind.

In Part (b) the importance of one of the remaining three pillars was to be discussed. Good answers were putforward by the candidates. Some answers started describing the different rites of Hajj rather than itsimportance in the life of a Muslim or when writing about zakatstarted to go into details of how much zakatisdue for different items.

Conclusion

The paper was well attempted by the candidates, they engaged well with the questions.

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2013

ISLAMIYAT

Paper 2058/41

Paper 1

In general, the performance has been very competent with some exceptionally good responses. All thequestions appear to have been accessible to candidates across the ability range and there have been fewrubric errors.

There has been a general improvement in the way candidates have addressed the second assessmentobjective, assessed by part (b) questions.

One general area to be stressed is the importance of addressing the question specifically. Candidates whowrite about the topic, but did not address the question specifically, tended to score less well than those whodirected their answers towards the words in the question. This was particularly important in some questions,

for example Question 5 (a), where the question asked about the persecution of the early converts to Islam.Some candidates read the word persecution and then wrote about the persecution of the Holy Prophet(pbuh), rather than his converts.

Question 1

(a) Most candidates attempted passages 1 and 3, though the few who responded to passage 2 didequally well. More able candidates went clearly beyond paraphrasing the passage and definedtheme(s), giving detailed answers with good description of Gods oneness, His power and authorityand immense knowledge (ayat-al Kursiy), His creation and forgiveness and His lack of any physicalrelationship and partner.

(b) The majority of candidates made a satisfactory attempt to explain the relevance of the themes in

Muslim life. Better answers explained details of the practical application of the teachings.

Question 2

(a) The most popular prophets that candidates discussed were Adam and Ibrahim, though somementioned Isa, Yusuf or Nuh. The accounts were reasonable with the relevant informationregarding the miracles and Gods protection. Good candidates gave a good narration of the storiesof the prophets highlighting the relationship between them and God such as Isas miraculous birthand rescue from crucifixion, Prophet Ibrahims search of the true God and readiness to sacrifice hisson, Prophet Adams higher status because of his knowledge and ultimate forgiveness. Somecandidates got the names of the prophets mixed up where they discuss the miracles granted to Isabut give the name of Musa. The best responses commented specifically on the prophetsrelationship with God.

(b) There were some thoughtful and perceptive answers to this question which evaluated theimportance of the prophets responses to difficulties, particularly those experienced as theyattempted to spread Gods message in their communities. Most acknowledged that the challengesstrengthened faith and saw the prophets as a role model for Muslims. Some of the best answersanalysed the reasons why God might test humans.

Question 3

(a) A popular question and well answered mostly, although it was important to note that answersneeded to be within the scope of the questions to be credited. Some candidates described theactual journey from Makka to Madina and the hurdles faced by the Holy Prophet (pbuh) before hereached Madina. Most candidates gave a good report of the failure at Taif and the Pledge ofAqaba with accurate dates and figures along with some of the terms of the pledge. Also theattempt to murder the Prophet (pbuh) and Gods revelation was discussed by able candidates.

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(b) This question was very well answered. The vast majority listed the importance of migration for theMuslim community, such as to escape persecution, to safeguard the life of the Prophet (pbuh), inorder to be able to practice their religion freely.

Question 4

(a) It is important for candidates to distinguish between religious and tribal affiliation and thecomplexity between the two. Some candidates answered on the assumption that non-Muslimsmeant Jewish tribes and the tribal conflict which ensued. Such answers were limited as there wasso much more that could have been written.

There were some who explained well the different clauses of the Charter of Madina with non-Muslims and relations with the 3 Jewish tribes. The treatment of the hypocrites under theleadership of Abdullah bin Ubayy was also well explained. Only a few mentioned the relationshipwith the Christians of Najran and the Prophets show of respect in day-to day life, such as standingwhen a funeral bier of a Jew passed by, and taking the side of the oppressed Jew. Somediscussed the interaction with non-Muslims in Makka as well, detailing the different battles, and theTreaty of Hudaibiyah and conquest of Makka.

(b) This was a relatively well answered question with candidates saying that Muslims have to be

patient, tolerant and protect the rights of non-Muslims in their daily lives, treating them as equalsand showing respect to them.

Question 5

(a) This question was attempted by most of the candidates and the level was mostly good. Most ofthem wrote in depth about the persecutions faced by early converts along with the details ofdifferent types of physical tortures inflicted on them. Able candidates mentioned the names ofprominent figures, such as Walib ibn Mugheerah, Utba, Abu Jahl, Umayyah ibn Khalaf, for thepersecutors as well as those persecuted, such as Bilal. It was important to respond to the questionfor converts, not the Prophet (pbuh) himself.

In part (b) the best candidates drew parallels between the situation then and the situation now.

Some mentioned Palestine, Burma and Kashmir. Most stressed on the need to be steadfast inreligion.

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2013

ISLAMIYAT

Paper 2058/42

Paper 2

General Comments

The overall performance of the candidates this year was similar to that in the previous years. However, itmust be noted that each year the candidates seem to get better at answering the part (b) questions on thepaper, which require an evaluative approach. Most candidates attempted the two compulsory questions inwhich some gave a more general answer to Question 2 rather than focussing on what the question wasspecifically asking. Candidates need to be aware that the questions on question papers may have adifferent focus or a slight twist in the wordings to ones they have used during the course and so in theexamination they will need to adjust their answers to the requirement of the question and not simply writedown a well prepared answer no matter what the question. From the 3 optional questions the last one was

attempted by only a handful of the candidates and those who did attempt it did either very well or gave verygeneral views which could be true for any battle.

Question 1

Both parts of this question were well attempted by the candidates. It is important to remember that whenanswering the first question, about the Hadith, not to paraphrase the wordings of the Hadith in part (a), forexample, for the first Hadith candidates should have written about social responsibility being one of theteachings of the Hadith and that showing concern for others also constitutes a good deed in Islam, carryingthe reward of charity. The second and fourth Hadiths were also very popular whereas for the third Hadith theteachings were not so well expressed. Answers to part (b) were much better than in previous years and thecandidates gave good examples in their answers.

Question 2

In part (a) of this question the candidates needed to refer to the Hadiths studied in the syllabus and based onthat knowledge develop their answer about how those teachings affected the conduct of the individual in thecommunity. The good answers were able to clearly show how the Prophets teachings were able to giveMuslims knowledge of how to deal with others, these answers cited the Hadiths, went on to explain them andthen linked them to the question by saying what benefits society would gain by the practice of those Hadiths.Some answers simply cited the Hadiths and explained their teaching. To get to the top levels or even to goup within a level it is important to link the response to what is being asked in the question. This can be doneeven in a sentence as once the connection is made the development of the answers increases and so doesthe level. This question was not about isnadand matn.

Part (b) also had some good answers saying how, by following the Prophets Hadiths, society could be

improved. Here it was not necessary to quote Hadiths and explain them individually. A more generalresponse would have sufficed.

Question 3

This was a very popular question and well answered. It was important to know the correct dates and places.

Part (b) was excellently answered by many candidates and all valid responses brought out the sense ofequality promoted by Hajj.

Question 4

In part (a) of this question candidates needed to focus on both the how and the why. In a lot of answers thewhy part was well described but not much was given in the way of answer for the how part besides the Eidprayers. In this answer candidates had the opportunity to write about how the two Eids are celebrated infamilies and in different countries.

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As in the other part (b) responses candidates wrote evaluative responses on how the two Eids bring theMuslim community together. A few candidates mentioned how the world wide community of Muslims arebrought closer together.

Question 5

This question was attempted by a few candidates, some of who wrote high level answers. In a question ofthis type dates, places, key features about the specific battle, names of the commanders etc. are importantto give.

In part (b) many candidates gave good responses. Candidates needed to give their opinion and back it upwith reasons. In some cases answers said that he was an equally good military leader and administrator andbacked up the answer with reasons.

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